Sun-Starved

Our Vitamin-D deficient adventures in Seattle (and elsewhere)

Nostalgia and San Francisco

Nostalgia: a yearning for the past. In the present? I believe most photographs are made of nostalgia.

In San Francisco, you stroll and walk over, underneath or besides magic on a regular basis. I have never lived there but I miss it. I long for it. It's a city that mesmerized me by its delicate sense of distinctiveness in individual details, like no other place in the United States has. 

I found that magic lingering in a language I heard a passerby speaking, but I didn't recognize. I found it in a palace in the middle of the city, very close to the red bridge. It might slip into your bag of Mexican groceries or come in the form of blood orange sorbet. It might be in the menu at the Nicaraguan restaurant or left abandoned on a corner of your seat at the streetcar. It might taste like apricot preserve or smell like sand and water or a cala lily. It can come to you in many different costumes. 

I know it sounds like the fog sirens that whisper to the city all day.

In San Francisco, you want to outline the houses you walk by using just your fingers. You want to climb the palm trees in Dolores Park. Every inch of the city is alive in its asphalt, people and forms. After all, it's a place where its voices, tragedy, hope, and pride are weaved together into a beautiful, intricate map.

I wanted the glass in my lens to spill ink and produce words as fine as the imagery around me. But I ended up with images I later tinted with a dollop of golden hour.

San_francisco_de_antano-2
San_francisco_de_antano-3
San_francisco_de_antano-4
San_francisco_de_antano-5
San_francisco_de_antano-6
San_francisco_de_antano-1

Flowers burst, people in love and happy visitors: Spring is here!

Spring holds hands with a gentler sun. The length of daylight jumps on the clock hands, pushing them further. There is a burst of curvy colors and lush, sinewy leaves. I feel I want to touch every velvet-like texture nature gifts us with during this Season. I'm not a flower or a landscape photographer; what I am, is a fervent enthusiast of Spring and birth, of green, pinks and maroons. As a perennial sun-starved, I feel I bloom during this time of the year. Yes, I feel like a plant. Or a flower. Or both.

The sun played coy and winds marched around town yesterday in Seattle. Still, there's nothing that can be done to prevent the new season to be welcomed into our town. I'm celebrating it by making images
and gathering music. 

This music selection ranges from an "opening dream" to a "happy dance".  All the musicians featured are dear to my heart. Please, enjoy this tunes while the photos tell you about my day yesterday.

¡Feliz Primavera!

 


March_20_2011_vitols-7

[Insert a big smile]

March_20_2011_vitols-1

One of my favorite guys in Pike Place Market. Caught him on his day off. He works for Choice and Produce Pepper, one of the produce vendors at Pike Place Market. He confessed me this was his first time at The Gum Wall!

March_20_2011_vitols-2

...and that he cares for this pretty gal!

March_20_2011_vitols-3

Parts of Post Alley are my favorite "Industrial Sublime" corners of Seattle

March_20_2011_vitols-5

Welcome, tulips!

March_20_2011_vitols-4

My student Meghan, visiting from San Antonio, TX, and loving Seattle

March_20_2011_vitols-9

Primrose. Victorian Lace. Stunning. 

March_20_2011_vitols-6

Ah, green!

March_20_2011_vitols-8

English Daisy

March_20_2011_vitols-10

Hearts made of flowers

 

All the photos were taken at Pike Place Market, Seattle.

Get to know the musicians featured on the playlist:

I Monster

New Buffalo

Hot Chip

Goldfrapp

Kings of Convenience

 

Filed under  //   Flowers   Mix Tape   Photography   Seattle   Shutter Tours   Spring   Street Photography   Valentina Vitols   music